


The SHIELD Cafeteria Encounter

by Polska_1999



Series: Sprint Towards Blackout (Happy Steve Bingo 2018) [19]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Chance Meetings, Gen, Hopeful Ending, cafeteria food, chance encounter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-07 01:10:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16398533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polska_1999/pseuds/Polska_1999
Summary: Cafeteria food. Steve hated it, but given how much time he spent at SHIELD’s headquarters and how little time he had to himself, it was a necessary evil.He never expected it to cause an event that would change the course of fate.





	The SHIELD Cafeteria Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> For the _Cafeteria Food_ square on my **Happy Steve Bingo** card.

Cafeteria food. Steve hated it, but given how much time he spent at SHIELD’s headquarters and how little time he had to himself, it was a necessary evil. It managed to somehow taste worse than food from the Great Depression, but he was willing to stomach it if it meant getting to his meetings on-time and being better-prepared to defend against AIM or whatever megalomaniacal wannabe supervillain decided to attempt taking over the world that week.

Point was, he never saw the cafeteria food as something that could bring about good. It simply existed, neutral and teetering towards blandly annoying. From time to time, Fury’s schedule shifted around, thus causing Steve’s lunch to shift as well and preventing Steve from getting the chance to properly befriend people during the break.

Then it happened. 

One day after another alteration of his schedule, Steve went into the cafeteria and found it mostly packed. There were seldom any seats open at most tables, although Steve noticed one where there was only one person with no one around them, other agents avoiding the guy like a plague. So what did Steve do? Only the most logical thing, of course — he grabbed some food and went to sat down next to the guy. 

At first, Steve’s presence wasn’t even noticed, giving the supersoldier an opportunity to examine the man. He had long brown hair that fell like a curtain, veiling his face. His arms were hidden by a jacket and gloves, both of which looked a little worse for wear and had partially washed-out blood stains that clearly didn’t come off completely in the wash. Something in Steve’s mind told him he should be careful, but Steve was rather adept at ignoring that part of his mind. 

“Hey,” Steve prompted, and saw the guy stiffen, as if registering Steve’s presence. “You alright?”

The guy nodded slightly and muttered something, voice so quiet not even Captain America’s enhanced hearing could make out what was said.

“Do you mind if I sit here?”

The guy simply shrugged, not even looking up, much less looking at Steve. 

Steve settled on the spot next to the guy and began eating some of his food, waiting. For once, he knew better than to push; he recognized the signs of a fellow veteran. 

“Hey, intern!” Came a voice from nearby. Steve saw his new acquaintance’s posture tense up as the voice continued. “You done eating yet? You’re due for a coffee run.”

Steve looked to the speaker, who proved to be none other than one Jasper Sitwell, one of SHIELD’s upper agents. “Leave him alone,” Steve told Sitwell, voice slipping into his  _ Captain America is upset with you _ tone.

As expected, Sitwell took a step back, although it wasn’t clear if the retreat was caused by Steve’s tone or simply the shock at Steve defending this person. ( _ An intern _ , Steve’s mind supplied, although part of him doubted that the label was accurate. This guy looked to be far from an intern. More like an assassin, really.) Steve narrowed his eyes in a slight glare at Sitwell, silently daring the agent to challenge him.

Sitwell was not an idiot quickly backed off. Well, more like he ran off, with a flash of fear in his eyes. Steve didn’t understand that too much — yeah he was annoyed, but not like someone was going to kill Sitwell over this or something. 

Whatever. Not Steve’s concern right now. He turned to face the strange guy. 

“Are you okay?” Steve asked.

The guy nodded slightly, although his body told a different story. His posture remained tense, as if he was prepared to fight or flee if necessary, and his right hand was gripping his fork so tightly that it was bending. It made Steve frown slightly in concern. 

“Want to step out for a bit?” Steve offered.

The guy rose from his seat quickly, glancing at Steve through his messy hair, not showing his entire face. He still held his food tray, appearing to refuse to leave it behind as if someone would take it away at any moment. (That or maybe he feared that someone would poison it. Steve wasn’t going to ask which.) Steve tried to ignore the part of his brain that warned him to be cautious as he led the guy out of the cafeteria, carrying his own tray as well. 

The guy kept his head down as he walked and followed Steve step-for-step, and Steve had to glance behind him several times to make sure that the guy was following and hadn’t slipped off. Thankfully, no one bothered them as they left the cafeteria and walked through the building, although a few agents did send surprised, confused, and even scared looks Steve’s way. It made the atmosphere feel suffocating, and Steve was glad when they finally exited the building for a bit. 

Steve led the guy over to a bus stop bench. It was the middle of the day, though not quite any of the major commute times, so there were no people waiting for the bus. Steve plopped down on the edge of the bench, leaving plenty of space for the guy to sit down. However, when Steve looked up, he saw that the guy hadn’t sat down and was instead standing, looking at Steve, face still hidden by the messy mop of hair. 

“You want to sit down?” Steve asked, knowing that the guy wasn’t okay. Didn’t need to be a psychologist to be able to realize that. 

The guy sat down as soon as the offer was made, posture still a bit tense but not as badly as inside the building. He picked at the food with the slightly-bent fork, although it was clear that he remained guarded and cautious of his surroundings. Steve didn’t interrupt, instead eating some of his own food and letting a small silence fall between them. 

Steve finished eating first and mulled some thoughts over while waiting for his companion to finish. Who was this guy, and why did Sitwell think it was okay to shove someone around like that, especially a veteran who was clearly not okay? And why had everyone been looking at him like he just brought Hitler back from the dead?

“Want to go back inside?” Steve asked once the guy finished his meal.

“No.”

The response caught Steve off-guard. “No?” he asked, surprised at first. Then, he remembered the incident with Sitwell and realized that maybe the guy had a pretty legitimate reason for it. “What do you want to do, then?”

The guy froze up at that question, then turned his head slightly to glance at Steve confusedly, as if he hadn’t expected that question. Or maybe perhaps he simply didn’t know what else he could do, or that he even had a choice. Normally, Steve didn’t like cutting meetings and would usually never ask another to do so, but in this situation, he was willing to make an exception. He’d have to have a chat with Fury about this later, anyways, because how Sitwell had acted wasn’t acceptable. 

“Want to go get some coffee?” Steve tried as he rose to his feet, hoping that maybe giving a more direct offer would yield more of a response. “There’s a coffee place two blocks down that has freshly ground beans.” 

This got a nod from the guy, and Steve rose to his feet. He took both of their cafeteria trays and dumped them in the trash, knowing that those will not be missed. SHIELD was in desperate need of new ones, anyways, and a few missing ones would hopefully prompt them into buying ones that didn’t bend like the one-sixteenth inch aluminum covering on Justin Hammer’s robots that the team fought a few weeks ago. While Steve did that, the guy rose from his spot on the bench, but then he paused, not walking over to follow immediately behind Steve. 

The guy then spoke, his words quiet but ringing loudly to Steve as a slight Brooklyn drawl worked its way into the guy’s speech.

“Always gotta fight everyone, huh?”

Cafeteria food. It was a necessary evil that managed to somehow taste worse than food from the Great Depression, but Steve was willing to stomach it if it meant getting to his meetings on-time and being better-prepared. He had never viewed the cafeteria food as something that could bring about good. It had simply existed, neutral and teetering towards blandly annoying. 

That was, until one lunch in the SHIELD cafeteria led to a discovery that prevented millions of deaths around the world and (almost more importantly) helped Steve fix a wrong that he had spent far too long blaming himself for. Talking to Bucky hadn’t been easy, and it only got harder the more Bucky talked about what he was. (Not who. What. His words exactly.) But, Steve managed to hold through and got Bucky to a safe place regardless of how much of an earful Fury was giving him, and with Bucky’s testimony, not only did HYDRA get rooted out of SHIELD but they had enough evidence that the courts couldn’t sentence Bucky to prison if they tried, especially not once Stark found out about everything and practically threw lawyers their way. 

(Steve knew that he will never forget that moment in the cafe when he and Bucky were just drinking their coffees and Fury called while sitting in a van across the street, telling Steve to get the fuck out of there because a dangerous assassin was sitting across the table from him.)

Now, Bucky was with Steve because he still did not trust others, but that was okay. They were still working on the whole trust thing, after all, and that rang true for both of them. They had friends who had their backs. Even Stark, whose relation with Bucky briefly went rocky when the billionaire discovered the truth about his parents, was willing to fight anyone to help protect the resident supersoldiers. (Although, then again, given that Stark will fight the government about almost anything, that was not too surprising.)

Steve shuddered to think what would have happened if he hadn’t chosen to eat in the cafeteria that one fateful day, for he knew that if he had to exchange blows against Bucky, he’d rather surrender. 

But, those were not thoughts for him to focus on anymore. Focusing on the what-ifs could easily drive one insane, especially in the superhero business.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello friends! I am participating in the **Happy Steve Bingo** event and will be attempting to go for a blackout bingo; thus, I plan on filling all 25 squares of my card — that means, get ready for as many as 25 fics total featuring our favorite (if a bit self-sacrificial) supersoldier!
> 
> This prompt entry took on a life of its own and created something that definitely did not follow the original plans I had for this prompt but that worked out pretty okay nonetheless. I know it does ride on technicalities a bit, but that doesn't mean it's not on-topic; besides, I feel like this version of it did turn out better than what I originally planned. And yes, Sitwell does know about the Winter Soldier. He was trying to find the most normal thing he could say to get the Soldier away from Captain America. Unfortunately for him, he didn't get the memo that Steve Rogers wasn't a fan of bullies.
> 
> Most of my works, including this one, are beta-read by the one and only amazingly wonderful [SpaceKeet!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceKeet/pseuds/SpaceKeet) If you get the chance, go out and give her some love!
> 
> As always, thank you all so much for reading! If you liked it, feel free to drop a kudos or comment if you have something you want to say. Wanna contact me? You can find me on [Tumblr](https://polska-1999.tumblr.com/) or ask me for my Discord in the comments.


End file.
